Request, Need your comments on this!!!

Hi All

There is a very nice topic started in Members Lounge. I am giving the link to that. It is about Indian Tv Serials. I will want all active participants of Astitva section to be replying to that particualr thread in Members Lounge. You can as well post it here in this thread......

Come on, have your thinking caps on!!!

This is the link...

http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=32790&TP N=1

Hope to see you all replying .

Sree

hi peeps

the above link has a very interesting discussion on it

whilst that is a general area discussion, I think it would be very interesting to see what us ASTITVANS (new term coined today by yours truly😛...pls use it .. lol) think about this with regard to astitva.....

personally, I don't watch any ekta serials, but others in the family do, so i have a gist of what is going on in them. Now, for me, all this stuff about black magic etc is way out and i can't get to grips with it. Also, what is incredibly surprising is the way people just get married at the drop of a hat....ok, our ownn abhi has done it 3 times, but at least this isn't the norm within the realms of astitva....whereas it seems to be in the other serials....do others agree?

i really enjoy watching astitva, but at times if the leap for example, I really did think they should have moved on with it and just ended it... in this respect, they seem to have gone past their "sell-by date".... having said that, I have to further give credit to the writers as the serial is now getting back its original candor and the waning interest is certainly returning, for me anyway....From what I have read here, that does not seem to be the case with the ekta serials....yes, even though our interest dwindles, we continue watching, but surely the writers and producers should be wary of not insulting the viewers intelligence. In that respect, it seems to me that mr. ajai sinha stand head and shoulders above the others and this is getting proved day-by-day...

Me and sree were discussing a little while ago how there seem to be more and more new Astitvans joining and how it would be really nice to get more interesting posts and input on their varied thoughts. So when possible people, please post anything interesting you have to say. And dare I say it, but if your comments do not agree with us then please post that in particular....

Cheers

hello all,

Well a very nice topic indeed........on my thoughts.......I dont watch ekta serial's at all now....i used to but then lost all total interest in it as they never made sense to me........I have never been able to grasp her concept of marrying a zillion times, i mean common is there anything that is called love, affection in her serials....every single character in her plays has married atleast 3 or 4 times...even the girls in the family....as soon as the wife/husband dies in the next episode that other person is married off ..gawd i find this so sick and undigestable...
as for astitva...I loved this serial, still do but now what they are trying to show with Sia falling in love with her own father, is kinda outta my dictionary....It's understood that yeah she does not know that but still....i mean why did she not get that respect in her mind for Abhi that fatherly respect...if you guys understand what i mean.....the concept of remarriage adn that too soooooooo many time does not set well in my mind... we do not belong to a culture that teaches us that....i know all the modern day people will be saying what is she talking about but yeah everyone can call me from the old school the remarriage concept will never be understood by me..as I believe that love happens only once and you dream to spend your life with only one person as love is very pure and precious and you dont just throw love at any tom, Dick or Harry that comes your way....

Phew..........thats it from my end....lol....chill ....

I see only Astitva because I became a Nikki Aneja fan, after I saw Mr. Azaad. Was disappointed after she quit films, saw her a few times on Star Plus or some such channel, then left the country. I started seeing this serial only for Nikki, then liked the theme, Manas, started burning up when Dr. Joshi almost won Simran's heart and hand, was delerious when he turned out to be a cheat... phew!

Hi Flash

Thanks for starting a very nice discussion. For my part, I agree with what you're saying, but there is another reason for our soaps dragging on and on.

Take Ekta Kapoor for instance. She gets Rs. 900,000 per episode of any serial that is aired on Star Plus. For shows on Sony and Zee, the figure is even larger--about Rs.1200000 per episode on Sony. FYI this is because Star India Pvt. Ltd. has a twenty five percent stake in Balaji Telefilms. (I may have got the percentage wrong btw, it may be more.) So if she is getting a fat paycheck from these guys, then why should she forgo that by starting a new serial, which would take time, not to mention the money that would be spent on its advertising and marketing. Also money would be spent in looking for a suitable lead pair, (take the case of Angad and Kripa). So she tries to play safe by stretching her ongoing shows like Kyunki..., Kasautii..., Kahaani...et al. Also a new serial would not get high TRPs like Kyunki... and Kahaani... which is what she gets paid for. Her serials start out well but then peter out after a while because she has so many new serials on the floor that she cannot give her attention to all of them. Many people who are working in her serials or in her films haven't even met her, for example (Prithvi, Isha Koppikar etc.)

I don't know about other producers, but I think they are faced with the same concerns. To start a daily show is very time consuming, hence, once it starts, the makers don't want to part with it, Take Tony and Deeya Singh, for example, first they deliberately stalled Jassi's makeover, then they deviated from the BLF track, all in an effort to make JJKN run for as long as it could. It was only when they got a one year extension from Sony, and an ultimatum saying that the show would be pulled off air if they don't show the makeover soon, that they relented. THis is also the reason why serials that start off well soon turn into inane dramas once the makers have nothing else to show in the main track. Piya Ka Ghar is a classic example. The title itself has lost meaning after the leap. I mean the story was about Rimjhim getting her Piya ka Ghar, wasn't it? Well she has already got it, then what's the point of continuing with it, but for some reason,(money?) the makers are continuing with it.

As for the people who are watching it, well they're watching it because they don't have any other choice. There is a dearth of original shows on TV. there's Batliwalla... a remake of the Kumars at # 42, Jassi.... which is a remake of Yo Soy Betty La Fea, KBC, a remake of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Originality is extinct. The blame for this sorry state of Indian television lies with us. If we stop watching these inane shows, they will stop making it.

As for Astitva, I think it's a very good show, and it remains the most watchable post leap show as well, but again I fail to understand what need there was to show the leap. Like Ekta, Ajai Sinha too resorted to the leap mechanism after he had run out of ideas. He could have started another show, especially since Astitva had already been going on for at least 2 years, I think. But he didn't do that. I have to admit though that the makers of this show haven't run out of ideas post the leap. Relevant themes, albeit controversial, continue to be examined. Having said all this, though, I would like to ask everyone who is taking a part in this discussion: Is Kasautii's second generation better than the Prerna-Anurag-Bajaj trio of the first one? Does the Garv-Isha-Megha triangle hold more promise than the Avinash-Rimjhim-Malini track? Do you prefer to watch Gautam-Damini-Ganga rather than Tulsi-Mihir?

These are my views. I would love to hear everyone else's views regarding this. Thanks again Flash for starting a very pertinent topic.

Hi Flash, Interesting topic.I agree with you that most of our soaps begin very well but within a couple of months the writers seem to run out of ideas. But the fact that some of these soaps are on for 2-3 years prove that they are continuing to be money spinners for the production houses and channels that air them. Like you rightly said they focus on one or two characters and build the story around them even if the story is of a huge joint family. HUM LOG,BUNIYAD and KHANDAAN are probably the only serials which told us the story of each character.This is so because the focus was on the story and not on any individual character.Now with this TRP game,not many would take the risk of trying out something new. The TV guys are only dishing out what the majority want.There is definitely a fantastic viewership that's why it continues. There is no dearth of good writers in our country.Take any state or regional language and we shall definitely find talent.Infact there is a forum called QUALAAM which invites budding writers to send in their original stories and ideas.The on'es selected get a chance to write for TV serials.How much freedom do these writers get to put their imagination on paper,once they are chosen,I'm not very sure. In my opinion,something like CHAUSHAT PANNE(64 episodes) is a good idea.If really required it should stretch to a year.The need to change artists,get them killed unnecessarily,plastic surgeries can be done to a minimum.The strories need not be twisted so badly that the viewers forget what the theme or gist of serial was.😕 Someone once wrote that only fools watch these soaps to which another retorted that it's not so.Indian TV is the best thing for a person trying to escape from harsh realities of life.It's pure entertainment! Just watch,don't take it seriously.There's so much to learn afterall😉.The central characters make fashion statements and are trendsetters.(from saris,blouses to their exotic bindis). In the recent times,I found only Astitva closest to reality.Sincerely hope it ends soon on a sensible note.can't wait for Ajai Sinha to come out with another wonderful serial. Akshata